Tenby is my favourite tourist destination in Wales, so far.
It’s a perfect little tourist town. Cute. Lots to see and do. Stay 2-3 nights. Be sure to do some hiking on the Pembrokeshire Coast Path while you are there.
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Tangier … (also called Tangiers in English) … is located at the western entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar, where the Mediterranean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean …
In 1923, it was considered as having international status by foreign colonial powers, and became a destination for many European and American diplomats, spies, writers and businessmen. …
Pirates, outlaws and guys like Paul Bowles, playwright Tennessee Williams, the beat writers William S. Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac all hung out here. Matisse too.
Pre-1956 Tangier had a population of 40,000 Muslims, 31,000 Christians and 15,000 Jews. …
Tourist like Tangiers. With long walks along the ocean front, it feels more mellow than the other big cities.
Since it’s less than an hour from Spain by ferry, many (including me) pass through.
At my hostel I met an American diplomat who was assigned Rabat as part of his internship. He’d just arrived from his previous assignment – Paris.
I found it even more mellow than Casablanca. Fewer tourists. .
Rabat (Arabic: الرِّبَاط, al-ribāṭ; Berber languages: ⴰⵕⴱⴰⵟAṛṛbaṭ) is the capital city of Morocco …
The city is located on the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the river Bou Regreg. …
Like Casablanca, the Rabat-Salé tramway (opened 2011) is modern and works well.
Click PLAY or get a glimpse on YouTube.
I met Leon Nikoosimaitak at a hostel in Casablanca. He’s a Motion Graphic Designer / Illustrator.
In London he might spend 4000€ / month. In Casablanca it’s a tiny fraction of that.
He works online. Takes breaks to go surfing every day.
Click PLAY or watch samples of his work on Vimeo.
Earlier in the trip I met Anika from Houston. She spent 3 weeks hiking the Appalachian Trail this year … while sneaking off trail once in a while to work online.
Marrakesh is packed with tourists from around the world.
The streets are filled with touts and conmen trying to separate them from their money. A Canadian I met had his phone stolen from a cargo pants pocket in the street, even though it was worthless to the pickpocket. It was locked.
Very few visitors go to Casablanca except on business. I don’t know why. It’s a very interesting city with no touts anywhere.
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The highlight is massive Hassan II Mosque built out over the ocean. It’s one of the 5 largest in the world. (capacity 105,000 worshippers with room for at least another 100,000 outside)
I’ve loved visiting huge Mosques since Istanbul 1994.
In Morocco non-Muslims are not allowed inside, actually. But Hassan II is one of the two that does allow it. I joined an English language tour.
My table.
Opened March 1, 2004, the place was designed to recreate the bar made famous by Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman in the movie classic Casablanca.
Set in an old courtyard-style mansion built against the walls of the Old Medina of Casablanca, the restaurant – piano bar is filled with architectural and decorative details reminiscent of the film …
As Time Goes By is a common request to the in-house pianist.
I splurged on a steak, the best meal I’ve had in two months on the road.
Casablanca the 1942 movie was filmed entirely in Hollywood. They never came to Morocco.
Hassan, the “storyteller” of Joydeep Roy-Bhattacharya’s … novel, is more than just a narrator: he is a guide, a witness, a showman, a chronicler of Moroccan legend and lore.
His stage is the central square of Marrakesh, Djemaa el Fna, where the myriad wonders of this great, red-walled city surround and inspire him. …
On this particular night, however, Hassan is concerned with only one mystery: the story of a foreign couple, a beautiful French-American woman and her Indian partner, who vanished from the square one evening a few years earlier. …
I read the book in Morocco, enjoying the hectic main square each evening.
This is an ambitious book. A modern “Thousand and One Nights”. But I can’t say the mystical style worked for me. It has mixed reviews on GoodReads.
The author is from India. But he did a good job of giving the rest of us foreigners a bit of the flavour of the nation.
Here is one of the last real storytellers. I didn’t see any in the square itself. It’s too noisy in 2018.
Definitely the city highlight for me.
Jemaa el-Fnaa is a square and market place in Marrakesh‘s medina quarter (old city). …
During the day it is predominantly occupied by orange juice stalls, water sellers with traditional leather water-bags and brass cups, youths with chained Barbary apes and snake charmers despite the protected status of these species under Moroccan law. …
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
My best experience in the city was here. At night. It was packed at 9pm on the Holy Day.
April 2011 there was a terrorist bombing her killing 17 people. Now there are cameras and a significant but discrete police presence. Still, you stay alert for scams and pickpockets.
Twenty years after the publication of Notes From a Small Island Bryson makes another journey around Great Britain to see what has changed. …
The book has received mixed reviews. …
I’m a huge Bill Bryson fan. Loved his 2010 book – At Home: A Short History of Private Life.
Sadly I didn’t get through Dribbling. Bryson comes off as a grumpy old man, not the observant, humorous observer I expected.
Dribbling is not recommended.
A couple of weeks have passed since I left Norway. I’m now in hot Morocco.
But what sticks most in my mind are the Lofoten Islands. I’d highly recommend you add this unique destination to your travel bucket list.
Here were my first impressions.
Finally made it to this unique, fascinating destination.
Å (the town) is located towards the southern end of the Lofoten archipelago.
I arrived there first, starting at the beginning. Later I learned Å is actually the LAST letter of the Norwegian alphabet.
Raining and late, I decided to get a hostel room (in the museum) rather than tent.
Needing to eat, I ended up with a gourmet salmon dinner at the only restaurant open late Sunday night.
Next morning I wandered about enjoying the quirky, end of the road fishing village.
Why do people live on the Lofoten Islands?
Stockfish (mostly cod) and now tourism. Massive annual harvests here were historically dried on racks for export to nations including Portugal and Italy.
Stockfish is a staple of Nigerian cuisine too. And they like the fish heads in Nigerian cooking.
Like many other places in traditional Norway, sod roofs are popular here.
Until the late 19th century, it was the most common roof on rural log houses in Norway and large parts of the rest of Scandinavia. …
… it helps to compress the logs and make the walls more draught-proof.
In winter the total load may well increase to 400 or 500 kg per m² because of snow.
Sod is also a reasonably efficient insulator in a cold climate. The birch bark underneath ensures that the roof will be waterproof.
